But Chelios knew after 30 seconds that Lidstrom was not having a change of heart.

"Looking into Nick's eyes and how distraught he looked -- I'm sure because of all the thinking he's had to do over the past two weeks and what a tough decision he had to make -- I didn't even have the heart to try to convince him otherwise," Chelios said. "I know (teammate Tomas Holmstrom) had talked to him. They're best friends. If Homer can't convince him, I'm sure not going to."

Lidstrom met with general manager Ken Holland in his office at Joe Louis Arena a week ago and told him he was going to retire.

"I told Nick to take the weekend and see if things change," Holland said. "I sent him a text Tuesday morning saying I thought about him all weekend, hadn't slept much, thought he had another good year in him.

"I thought that if he came back and we made two or three moves, we could have the potential to have a tremendous year."

But Lidstrom texted that he was comfortable with his decision.

AP PhotoNicklas Lidstrom is even unflappable while on a paddleboard.

That's when Holland turned to Chelios, the future Hall of Fame defenseman who's a team advisor, and told him to see what he could do.

"I wanted Nick back, but I wanted to make sure Nick was totally comfortable with his decision," Holland said. "I was at the GM meetings in New York (Wednesday) when the text came from Cheli. He said Nick was very comfortable with his decision and nothing had changed.

"I'm happy Nick has put a lot of thought into it and feels comfortable walking away from the game."

Chelios said he "failed miserably." But nobody could have convinced Lidstrom to return.

"He talked about the grind of training, preparation," Chelios said. "I told him, 'Don't lift weights, go mountain biking, go paddleboarding, spend all the time with your kids and then see.' But his mind was made up, there was no changing that. I don't doubt that Nick is mentally and physically drained right now."

Lidstrom anticipated some prodding by Chelios.

"We talked about what (Chelios) went through when he decided (to retire) and where I'm at," Lidstrom said. "He felt he was done, he was more of a role player at the end. He felt (I'm) one of the top defensemen in the league, can still play. He wanted to get a feeling if I was 100 percent committed to (retiring)."

What better place to find out than on a relaxing day on the water? The pair often go paddleboarding, whether it's in metro Detroit or near Chelios' summer home in Malibu, Calif.

"Even paddle-boarding on the ocean the first time (seven years ago), I wanted to see him fall out of control, but even when he fell, it was in total control," Chelios said. "Other guys were throwing their paddle, Nick put his down nice and slow and started all over again.

"I wanted to see Nick fail at something, and he still wouldn't."

Chelios called him "Cool Hand Luke."

"If there's any such thing as a perfect person, Nick was perfect, he was a rock, you couldn't rattle him," Chelios said.

When they returned to shore, someone had stolen Chelios' flip-flops, while Lidstrom's were untouched. Chelios believes it's further proof of the respect Lidstrom commands.

"And his were way better than mine," Chelios said. "That just shows you the difference between me and Nick."

So does this quote from Lidstrom: "We went out to lunch afterward and he didn't have any shoes on."